Jeff Flake: I Hope ‘Entertainment Politics’ of Trump Era Will Fade with Trump Out of Office

Former Arizona Senator Jeff Flake offered his view on President Trump’s influence in the Republican Party once he becomes an ex-president.

Flake, who frequently drew Trump’s ire while in the Senate, said he is bound for a regression after his election loss, which is projected to be by the same margin in the Electoral College as 2016 when Trump beat Hillary Clinton. Trump is also currently behind Biden in the popular vote by more than 5.5 million, a difference which is expected to grow.

Such an outcome is likely “once you lose the trappings of the office and the levers of power — and in particular Trump-ism relies on a certain amount of swagger that you lose when you lose an election,” Flake told Fox News host Neil Cavuto. “I see some influence, the fact there are rallies around the country indicate that, but that’s hard to maintain when you lose,” Flake said.

Supporters of the president — including the far-right group the Proud Boys — have planned a gathering in Washington, D.C. on Saturday to express their support.

Flake continued his thoughts on Trump’s base:

“…[It] relies a lot on grievance politics, and depending where both of the parties that are governing, that are in the Senate and in the House and in the White House, depending how Republicans and Democrats comport themselves and move forward, if they do, you know, reach towards the center, then I think people will kind of tire of the old politics that we experience right now and they’ll go more back to their regular lives and so I think that to see politics as kind of entertainment as we’ve seen it over the past little while, particularly during COVID when sports were down for a while and everything else, it was politics that we all turned to, but I think that will fade. I hope it does. As a conservative, I want politics to be steady and civil and boring and that would be nice.”

Watch the video above, via Fox News.